Letter: Nation negligent on infrastructure, debt

Now that Hurricane Harvey has left its path of destruction and Irma is now doing the same in Florida, we must make an analysis of our infrastructure.

In Houston, the two reservoirs are over 70 years old. The fact is many homes that were built in vast lands in front of those reservoirs now are destroyed by the intentional release of excess water that ultimately destroyed them while sparing downtown Houston.

No, no one could forecast the 21 trillion drops of rain that fell.

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By way of perspective, our national debt is approaching $21 trillion. What is more than ironic is that you would think that a nation with that enormous debt would have first-rate infrastructure and an affordable health-care system. The scary truth is that we have neither.

Our roads, bridges, airports and dams are aging fast and time is running out. The government has even taken every dollar out of the Social Security Trust Fund and it has been an expenditure of the federal budget every year. There should be $2.8 trillion in that trust fund, but the truth is that they have been "borrowed."

How can we afford the Trump tax cut when so many of us are paying the price? The rich just keep on getting richer at the expense of the middle class.